The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Virginia
No. 1 Men’s Tennis finishes season as NCAA National Runners-Up
05.17.2026 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns were narrowly defeated by Virginia, 4-3, in the NCAA Championship Final to conclude the 2026 campaign.
Athens, Ga. – The 2 seed No. 1 Texas Men's Tennis team (29-7, 12-2 SEC) concluded the 2026 season as NCAA National Runners-Up for the second time in the last three years (2024) and third time in program history (2008) after falling to 4 seed No. 5 Virginia, 4-3, in the NCAA Championship Final on Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
The Longhorns' 29 victories tied with the 2019 and 2025 teams for the most in a season for the program since 1975, while Texas also reached its sixth NCAA Final Four in seven seasons, won the SEC regular season and tournament championships, and captured the program's first ITA National Indoor Championship.
The championship match came down to the third set of the final singles contest at No. 1, but prior to that, Texas had taken the doubles point with wins at Nos. 3 and 2 after Virginia had won at No. 1. Virginia evened the overall score with a win at No. 2 singles, and the teams continued to alternate points with sophomore No. 89 Oliver Ojakaar winning at No. 4, the Cavaliers taking No. 5, freshman Lucas Marionneau winning at No. 6, and Virginia taking No. 3 for 3-3. That left it to No. 1, where the Longhorns had a break lead midway through third set, but the Cavaliers were able to recover to win the match.
"Virginia deserved it today," head coach Bruce Berque said. "They played well. They competed well. They won just a few more points – at some important moments – than we did. Congratulations to them. I couldn't be any prouder of our team for the season that they had this year and for how far they've come since the beginning of the year. It seems like forever ago, but there was a time where we were sitting in the Ohio State locker room in Columbus after getting beaten pretty badly with a 4-3 record. It seemed like we were so far away from getting to a championship level program, but the guys really took ownership of the program and of the team. They put in the work and held each other accountable and pushed and fought and proved and competed their way to three out of the four championships that they could possibly win, just coming up one point short today. I'm really proud of our team."
During doubles, after the freshman pair of Kalin Ivanovski and Abel Forger fell to No. 12 Mans Dahlberg and Dylan Dietrich, 6-3, at No. 1, the Longhorns had break leads on the other two courts. The No. 46 duo of Ojakaar and sophomore Sebastian Eriksson evened the point with a 6-2 win over Stiles Brockett and Keegan Rice at No. 3, and then the No. 21 pair of Marionneau and senior Sebastian Gorzny clinched with a 6-4 victory over Andres Santamarta Roig and Jangjun Kim at No. 2.
In singles, Virginia leveled the score as No. 41 Ivanovski was downed by No. 21 Rice, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2. However, Ojakaar gave the Longhorns the lead right back with his 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 58 Santamarta Roig at No. 4.
The Cavaliers knotted it again as No. 102 Forger fell to Brockett, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5, but Marionneau closed out his match in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, over Man Dahlberg at No. 6.
That left two matches on the court with one entering its third set and the other close to going to one, however No. 35 Eriksson came up just short in a second-set tiebreaker, during which he had a set point, 6-1, 7-6 (9), to No. 114 Kim at No. 3.
All attention then went to No. 1 where late deuce points in both the second and third sets made the difference with No. 3 Gorzny falling to No. 1 Dietrich, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, in the deciding match.
After the match, the All-Tournament Team was announced with the duo of Ojakaar and Eriksson chosen at No. 3 doubles, while Ojakaar was also honored at No. 4 singles.
#5 Virginia 4, #1 Texas 3
Singles – Order of Finish (2,4,5,6,3,1)
1. #1 Dylan Dietrich (VA) def. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4
2. #21 Keegan Rice (VA) def. #41 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) 6-1, 6-3
3. #114 Jangjun Kim (VA) def. #35 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) 6-1, 7-6 (9)
4. #89 Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. #58 Andres Santamarta Roig (VA) 6-1, 6-4
5. Stiles Brockett (VA) def. #102 Abel Forger (TEX) 6-4, 6-4
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Mans Dahlberg (VA) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles – Order of Finish (3,1,2)
1. #12 Mans Dahlberg/Dylan Dietrich (VA) def. Kalin Ivanovski/Abel Forger (TEX) 6-3
2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Andres Santamarta Roig/Jangjun Kim (VA) 6-4
3. #46 Oliver Ojakaar/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Stiles Brockett/Keegan Rice (VA) 6-2
Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)
Doubles No. 1: Dahlberg/Dietrich (VA) def. Ivanovski/Forger (TEX) 6-3
Match: Virginia picked up the only break of the match in the second game.
Doubles No. 3: Ojakaar/Eriksson (TEX) def. Brockett/Rice (VA) 6-2
Match: Texas broke for 3-1, and after later holding at deuce for 5-2, broke again at deuce for 6-2.
Doubles No. 2: Gorzny/Marionneau (TEX) def. Santamarta Roig/Kim (VA) 6-4
Match: Texas earned the only break of the match, doing so at deuce for a 2-1 lead. After the Longhorns consolidated for 3-1, the next two games were both held at deuce. Texas had a match point at deuce leading 5-3, and although Virginia held, the Longhorns served out at love in the next game.
Singles No. 2: Rice (VA) def. Ivanovski (TEX) 6-1, 6-3
Set One: Rice won the first three and last three games with Ivanovski holding at deuce for 1-3.
Set Two: Rice broke and held to start, but Ivanovski won consecutive deuce points for 2-2. The players exchanged breaks for 3-3, but Rice closed 3-0.
Singles No. 4: Ojakaar (TEX) def. Santamarta Roig (VA) 6-1, 6-4
Set One: After Santamarta held at deuce for 1-1, Ojakaar went on a 5-0 run that included deuce-point wins in the first two and last two games of that stretch.
Set Two: Ojakaar collected the only break of the set in the first game. He had another break chance at deuce in the third game, but Santamarta held.
Singles No. 5: Brockett (VA) def. Forger (TEX) 6-4, 6-4
Set One: Forger broke at deuce to start and again broke for 3-0, but Brockett went on a 4-0 run that included two deuce-point holds. Forger held for 4-4, and Brocket again held at deuce for 5-4 before breaking for the set.
Set Two: Forger again broke at deuce and held for 2-0 to start, and after Brockett produced another deuce-point hold for 2-1, Forger held for 3-1. Brockett got the break back for 3-3, and although Forger broke at deuce for 4-3, Brockett closed on a 3-0 run that included another deuce-point hold.
Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Dahlberg (VA) 6-3, 7-5
Set One: Despite both players having a deuce-point hold with Marionneau for 1-0, and Dahlberg for 2-2, the set stayed on serve until Marionneau came through with the only break for 5-3.
Set Two: The opening four games were all breaks, including the first two and last one at deuce. The rest of the set was then on serve until Marionneau claimed the only other break for 6-5 and served out the match.
Singles No. 3: Kim (VA) def. Eriksson (TEX) 6-1, 7-6 (9)
Set One: Kim broke at deuce for 2-0 to start on a 3-0 run, and after Eriksson held for 3-1, Kim also closed on a 3-0 run.
Set Two: Kim broke first on a deuce point for a 3-2 lead, but Eriksson broke back for 3-3. Despite three deuce points for 4-4, 5-4 for Eriksson, and 6-5 for Eriksson, the set stayed on serve to a tiebreaker.
Set Two Tiebreaker: Eriksson led 2-0 and 3-1, but Kim went on a 3-0 run to lead 4-3. The players then alternated points until Eriksson won two-straight for a 7-6 lead and a set point. However, Kim won the next two points and later won two more consecutive for the 11-9 win.
Singles No. 1: Dietrich (VA) def. Gorzny (TEX) 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4
Set One: Gorzny broke in the opening game and later held at deuce for 3-1, but Dietrich got the break back at deuce for 3-3 and the rest of the set was on serve to the tiebreaker.
Set One Tiebreaker: Gorzny jumped out to leads of 3-0 and 6-1 before winning 7-2.
Set Two: The set stayed on serve until Dietrich grabbed the only break, doing so at deuce on a double fault for a 5-4 lead.
Set Three: Gorzny broke first at deuce for a 3-1 lead, but Dietrich won consecutive deuce points to start a 4-0 run. Gorzny held at deuce in the next game to stay within 5-4, but Dietrich was able to serve out the match.
